Hiding Within Part 3
by N.V.9
Summary: Life: Touching you, breaking you, doing all it could to see how far it could push. Giving you a piece of joy before taking it back. Mocking you as it forced you onto the path it chose. Favoring some as it hated others. As it hated him. COMPLETE


**Look toward profile/bio for disclaimer and anything else involving this story.**

Life: Touching you, breaking you, doing all it could to see how far it could push. Giving you a piece of joy before taking it back. Mocking you as it forced you onto the path it chose. Favoring some as it hated others. As it hated him.

Silence: the quiet that comes after a devastation so large, you could do nothing but watch. That was the ultimate silence. It was the only time that you had little to think, to say, to wonder as you stood as still as stone. It was a word and a common companion to those that held it. Be it against their wills or not, it stayed.

Pain: an emotion or a physical thing that ran through the body, hitting every inch and missing none. Digging in deep and dragging along. Lingering long after it was gone. Staying when it was no longer welcomed. Growing into something that became a part of you.

Tears: water that fell from your eyes when you had nothing left to do. Fell when you were too weak to stop them. Carassing your cheeks as they created a trail, only to fall somewhere on the ground. Splattering apart like everything else.

-(X)-

Blood ran down his face, an outline beneath his eyes as they fell like tears. His chest was split open, shredded to pieces as he fought to stay standing. He was tired, exhausted, broken, numb.

Shivering, not with the cold but with shock, his eyes looked at the one that had done this to him. That had tried to take his life and instead layed dead at his feet. The body so torn up it resembled nothing of the shifter the man had been. The father he had been.

What had he done to gain the man's hatred? Disapproval? What had he done to get such an attack on his body? Gaara didn't know, didn't want to understand.

"What did you do?" someone whispered behind him.

Turning, Gaara watched with a broken gaze as his sister stumbled toward them, a hand over her mouth as her eyes filled, unable to look away from the dead cat.

"What did you do!" she screamed as she dropped beside their father, reaching out one hand but unable to touch.

"I saved myself." Gaara told his sister, wishing she'd hold him and tell him everything would be okay, as she had when their mother and brother had lived, before they were taken by a human's weapon.

"Liar!" she screamed as she bawled over the carcass. "You killed him! You killed our Father!"

"Temari-"

"You killed him like you did them! You took their lives and now you wish mine!" she screamed, turning to glare at him, her eyes filled with hatred.

"W-what? No! Temari-"

"It was you that took Kankuro and Mother to hunt! It was you that came back alone! It was you that let the hunters take them and skin them like a comman animal!"

"N-no! Temari! Please-" Gaara tried again as she continued on, her body slowly shifting into that of a leopard, her fur pure black instead of spotted like his own.

"You monster!" she snarled as she shifted and jumped at him. Jumping to the right, Gaara barely missed his sister's claws. When he turned, he found her getting up again, her hate clear in her eyes.

"Temari..." he whispered again, letting her hear the hurt in his voice. "Temari please." he begged when she came at him again and again, each time, barely missing him. "Temari..." he whispered before he shifted and ran. He was not at fault. He didn't kill his Mother or brother. He didn't want to go hunting, but he was forced to by his Father. They came along to help. They went forward as he tracked the pray from behind. They were spotted by the humans before they could run. Taken from him before he could save them. The humans chasing him as he cried for his family to come to him. Is that why his Father attacked him? Did he blame him for what he couldn't stop?

"You are just like them!" Temari screamed from the distance. "You are just like a human!"

-(X)-

Days later found him beside a stream, his wounds clogged over and healing. It would be a while yet before they healed completely, longer still if he did nothing to try and heal himself. Did he wish to do so? Did he deserve to live?

Looking into the murky water below, he saw his fur, covered in dirt and blood, missing in patches. He knew the rest of his body was in the same state, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

When the image of his body faded and replaced itself with his mother and brother, both black leopards like Temari, Gaara closed his eyes and looked away. It had only been two weeks since the humans took them. A week since Gaara and his Father had taken revenge against the village that took them. Killing everyone within, the young included. Leaving all of their bodies for other animals to take and claim as their own. Destorying the homes they created as they took the furs of his family back and buried it in place of the bodies that were long devoured by the human's stomachs. Only four days since his Father had turned on him, attacking him as he walked alone. Four days since his sister casted him aside, her hate stamped onto his heart for all time.

Loneliness: another word to add to the others, pushed aside and forgotten like the fading dusk. Breaking you from within and leaving you behind.

He could not go to other Leopard shifters, his kind never taking new leopards, males mostly, into their family. His family was gone, lost to him for all time, the last sight of what he had left no longer belonging to him.

Perhaps his sister was right, perhaps he was more human then shifter. So like a human, he had to release his past, and never look back.

-(X)-

"Gaara, can you take these crates out back and leave them by the shed?" Baki asked as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, spreading the sweat. "Someone's coming to get them."

Nodding, Gaara did as the human asked him. Stacking all seven on top of eachother, he manuvered around the little shop and out the open door. Moving around the building, Gaara spotted the sad excuse for a shed and moved toward it. He had been with Baki, working for the man for six years now. The first and only person that had given him a job even with his lack of talents, giving him a place to sleep when he had none.

For six years he had remained human, never once returning to his cat form. Ignoring it as it called for him to shift. As it begged to run wild and free. Many times over the six years he caught himself looking at the woods around him in longing. He itched to run and feel the dirt on his paws, to feel the trees beneath his claws. The air on his whiskers.

Even now he felt the longing to go. Closing out the woods around him, from his mind, he moved toward the shed and placed the crates by the hundreds of others that were still waiting to be picked up by the 'someone' Baki spoke of. No one ever came. Gaara knew for a fact that no one ever would.

They only came to the little shop in the woods to buy supplies. To buy food that Baki and Gaara hunted and wood that they chopped. To buy bugs and objects that would help them gain their own food.  
When he had arrived, Gaara had been appalled at what he was asked to do, kill something for no reason at all, to live with a hunter when his own family was taken by them. But then he remembered he was more human then shifter. That he no longer had a past, but a future. His traditions no longer mattered as he took to living like Baki.

History would be another word that had little meaning toward him. Forgotten as quickly as it past. He would never live within it again.

Feeling something watching him, Gaara looked around before he found a shadow on the ground, created by the rare strands of sunlight that made it through the trees. Turning his head, he followed the sunbeam until he found a small cat sitting on the top of the metal roof. If he was only a human he would have thought it just a stray that wandered where it shouldn't have been. But he knew differently. He knew, as the ocelot knew, that they were both more then they seemed. The little cat watched him with an unblinking stare. His spotted fur shining like silk. He met the gaze of the other until Baki called his name. Turning toward the building, Gaara looked once more at the roof of the shed and found nothing. The little cat gone as quickly and quietly as it came. Sniffing, Gaara couldn't even find a scent left behind. Shaking it off, he moved to aid Baki with whatever it was he needed.

-(X)-

Three nights later, Gaara was chopping more wood to be sold when he felt the presence again. Pausing with the ax in the air, he looked around, frowing when he could find nothing. Sending out his own power to find the cat, he paused when he found more then just that one. Two stronger cats, stronger then himself. With his gaze watching the shadows of the trees, he stared in silence as two shifters came forward, the little ocelot resting peacfully on the one that held the dominating aura, his tiny body spread to both sides of the man's shoulders.

"Why are you hiding?" The blonde male asked, his aura one that Gaara had never met up with. What were they? He had never come across cats stronger then himself. Both males radiated power.

Instead of answering, Gaara looked from one to the other and then finally the ocelot as he put the ax down. "Why are you watching me?"

"He's curious." The taller male said, his hand running up to lovingly pet the ocelot's furry cheek. Such a small simple gesture and Gaara knew exactly what that meant. This little ocelot was claimed by this male. "You've made me curious too." the male went on. "Why do you pretend to be human?"  
"Does your cat embarrase you?" the blonde grinned cheekily. "It's okay, Leopard, some cats are small in size."

Ignoring the yelp as the other smacked him in the head, Gaara frowned. "You know what I am, but tell me what you are."

"You've either been hiding so long you can not sense our cats or you've never met up with one of us." the silver haired male said with raised eyebrows.

"I know what he is, but not who." he answered gesturing to Haku. "I see you but not them." he said speaking of their cats.

"He is Haku, my precious little Ocelot." the male answered as he turned his head enough to kiss the cat's nose. "I'm Hidan and this is Naruto."

"They are names and titles, but it does not answer my question."

"I, Leopard, am a Siberian Tiger and he is a Jaguar. It is no surprise you can not place us. We are both rare and on the verge of extinction." Hidan shrugged, a smirk appearing on Naruto's face.

"I charge for pictures." the Jaguar said. "Fifty for erotic poses." again Hidan's hand met the back of his head.

"We've answered you now answer us." Hidan demanded when Naruto only pouted childishly.

"I am not hiding." Gaara said, turning back to the tree and set to work once more.

"Sure looks like you are." Naruto commented as he moved to stand in front of him, sitting on the tree and blocking Gaara from cutting more. "I can barely feel your cat, just enough to know it's there and what it is, but no more then that. Your aura is very...weak. These trees don't even smell of you and there is no other cat around to claim this place."

"Then why lay claim to something that will never be taken?"

"You're hiding." Naruto said again.

"No."

"Yes you are!" Naruto glared, reminding Gaara of a child once more. Maybe he was a child still. He looked no more then sixteen, maybe seventeen.

"You-"

"Naruto." Hidan said freezing the jaguar in place. With a scowl on his face, Naruto got up and shifted, his big cat form moving to rest against the log, watching Gaara with knowing eyes.

The want that entered his heart ached deeply. He so badly wanted to shift and rest like Naruto. To feel the bark on his fur. To let himself run free. To see the world as he saw it before...no, that world wasn't his anymore. He was human. Too human to be a shifter. He needed to forget what he was. Where he came from.

"Don't deny what you are." someone said softly from his side. Turning his head, Gaara looked into gentle calming eyes of the ocelot. The cat small and delicate even in human form. "Do not let your pain hinder you any longer."

"I do not hold onto it. It is something that goes as the night and day falls and rises."

"And yet you are stuck within it." Haku answered. "Torturing yourself everyday with what you do. Hunting with a gun and knife. Killing what shouldn't have been killed. Tell me, is this the cause of why you hurt? You do this because it was done before?"

"I don't...no. No." Gaara glared, moving away from the cat. "You know nothing."

"You are right, I don't." Haku answered, moving backward a few steps until his back collided with Hidan's tensed chest. "But you do." with a small smile, he shifted, becoming the tiny ocelot of before as he rested in Hidan's arms.

"We'll be around for a few days. We'll move then and perhaps you'll come to." Hidan said, turning and walking away. "Just follow our scent."

When something rubbed against his leg, Gaara turned to see Naruto looking up at him, the dominating cat seeing more then he should. With a push of his head, Naruto walked after the other two, leaving Gaara in the trees by himself.

-(X)-

He watched Baki sleep in the bunk next to his, wondering what he was doing and why he was taking Haku's words to heart.  
He had let his past go, it was no longer part of his life. It...it what? What did it do?

He could recall everything of those nights so long ago. Everything of the past he tried to let go. Was Haku right? Was he still stuck within it? Hiding because of words meant to hurt him? Did he only bury himself deeper into it? Six years he thought he was free, six years that he always remembered what happened. He was never free, only stuck within another prison in a different place, watched by the same warden of pain.

Getting up from the bed, Gaara wrote a quick note for Baki to find, knowing the older man would understand. Not bothering to pack anything, figuring Baki could sell it if he wished, Gaara walked out of the home he had known since he banished himself.

When he was far enough into the trees, he closed his eyes and let himself free. The pleasure of it all hitting him at once, his body feeling familiar and welcomed. Without thought, he ran. He ran until he found them waiting for him.

"Has history let you free?" Haku asked, sitting on the back of the tiger, the dark rusty color and black strips outlining Haku's form, reminding Gaara of a beautiful nymph. Nodding his head once to the question, Haku smiled, his hands running through Hidan's fur, "History makes us the way we are. We will always add but never forget. Forgetting means losing who we are. Remembering it allows us to move forward. Living within it, keeps us the same. I am happy you are joining us Gaara." at the sound of his name, Gaara paused. Ignoring the question in his eyes, Haku laughed, jumping from Hidan's back and landing as the ocelot Gaara began to see as his newest treasure, his beautiful savior meant to be protected. With a flick of his tale and a head rub against Hidan's head, Haku took off, demanding they follow with no more then a backwards look.

-(X)-

"Gaara!" Kiba grumbled in annoyance when the red head had yet to look away from the trees. His mind once more lost to life as he thought of nothing and everything. "Gaara!"

Turning to the annoyed Leopard, Gaara frowned at the other male, his mind remembering when Kiba had found them. Without asking, he joined them. Hidan had tried to fight this but Kiba didn't seem to care. Shrugging in indifference before smiling smuggly when Haku welcomed him into their family. Only coming because he felt another Leopard and thought of home. That was three months ago and Kiba showed no signs of leaving. Missing his family and replacing them with Gaara and then the others.

"Damn cat, took you long enough. I was beginning to think you were going human." Kiba grinned, fangs flashing.

"Human?" Gaara questioned, knowing that if Haku heard Kiba's words, he would give him the look of disappointment that none of them wished to recieve from the ocelot. That look was one that made them all feel as if they failed the delicate cat.

"Spacing out because their minds are too slow to remember anything." Kiba laughed, only sobering up when Gaara continued to give him the same blank look. "Anyway, do you think we'll get to see people again? I want to play and tease them."

"You dislike people, though they've done nothing to you, but you tease them. Why?"

"I don't dislike them, they are just easily spooked and fun to toy with. Jumping and believing everything said to them. It's fun." Kiba grinned again.

Nodding his head, Gaara turned away from the cat and looked once more into the distance, so far from civilization but too little food to keep them here. Only coming here to save Naruto from being attacked. The jaguar calling more attention by other cats wising to challenge him and by humans when he roamed in cat form. The last attack on the young cat scaring him so badly, he hadn't been himself since. They had been on the move nonstop but this place wasn't home. They'd move again in a few days as soon as Naruto gained his barings again and no longer jumped at shadows. Taking a sniff of the air, he froze and looked around frantically.

"Blood." Kiba gasped, becoming serious for the first time. "There!" he shouted, spotting Hidan moving quickly toward them with a Lynx in hand, Haku running beside him as he soothingly talked to the cat. Right behind them came Naruto, his fur covered in blood but not his own. "What happened?" Kiba asked, moving aside so that Hidan could place the Lynx on the makeshift bed.

"A human's hand." Hidan answered as he checked the Lynx's bloody body, gaping wounds all over him, bone peeking through in pieces. "We need to stop the blood, the knife wounds are too deep to heal themselves." he finished as Naruto began to gently lick the blood off the cat.

Flinching at the scream like growl of the Lynx, Gaara watched as Haku whispered calming words, holding the Lynx's head within his hands. When the cat tried to attack, Hidan grabbed the two front legs and held them down gently as Kiba did the same to the back. Naruto continued to clean the wounds as best as he could. When Haku told him what to find, Gaara ran from them and began his search for the objects that would heal the cat.

Hours later, the Lynx slept away, his blood no longer falling as Haku gently placed some tree like glue around the wound. Without the ocelot having to say, Gaara knew the cat would scar. The wounds to haggard to do anything but. What had been done to this cat?

-(X)-

"Haku?" Gaara frowned when the ocelot shifted by the fire place, gasping softly.

"It moved." Haku answered with a small smile, turning his gaze to look at him. "I promise, I'm fine."

With a nod, Gaara sat back into the one seater. Charged with protecting the ocelot as Hidan went to let his cat free, Gaara took his orders seriously. He knew Haku wanted to run to, but his small form was not big enough to hold the cub if he shifted. He knew Kiba was patroling the grounds and that Naruto was more then likely with Sasuke again. The jaguar unable to leave him be after claiming the snow leopard. Deidara was sleeping in one of the spare bedrooms, prefering to sleep alone then with company. The fear, he always seemed to carry, making it impossible for him to come closer to anyone but Haku, even then, Deidara kept his distance unless his fear made him cling tighter to the ocelot. His past one that no one would speak of, that none really knew, all only knowing that the cat had been tortured and abused for the majority of his life.

But Gaara suspected it went deeper then that, the fear he had was more then what pure torture could supply. Gaara could not fault him for keeping his secrets, even he had only told some of his own past and doubted he'd ever tell them the rest.

The other three snow leopards most likely working their human jobs.

"You know," Haku said, bringing Gaara's eyes back toward him. "the snow leopards will be leaving with us. When the cub comes, I mean."

"I'm aware of this." Gaara frowned, trying to see where Haku was going with this.

"Hidan is talking about inviting them to stay here with us until we leave."

"I would assume as such, wasn't it you that asked Hidan if they could come with us?" Gaara said, his lips lifting slightly.

"Yes...Neji will be living with us too." Haku went on, moving a little more, trying to get comfortable.

"What are you getting at?"

"Have you not noticed at all?"

"Noticed what?"

When Haku broke into laughter, Gaara's frown deepened, though he loved to hear the little ocelot laugh, the sound soothing his heart, Gaara found he didn't like being the butt of this unknown joke.

"Haku?"

"Neji fancies you." Haku got out between laughter.

"Me?" Gaara gaped.

"Did you not see the way he watched you the first night? The way he continues to watch you?" Haku questioned with a brow lifted in amusement.

"I...no...how does he watch me?"

"The way one watches his future mate." Haku answered softly, waiting for Gaara to get over his shock. "You were human too long, Gaara. You can no longer remember the first whispers of a bond."

"I've been leopard-"

"But you stay mostly human." Haku reminded him. "You still hold onto that past you can't be free of. You are doing better, but you are still hurting."

"I am sorry."

"It is nothing to be ashamed of. You fit in both worlds, a cat that was meant to feel the life very few of us ever will." Haku answered gently. "In time you will come to balance both, better then the rest of us."

"Do you truly think Neji is mine then?" Gaara asked, feeling a flutter within his chest. "That he wishes me as his?"

"Yes." Haku nodded. "Suppose you went for a run tonight?"

"I am protecting you-"

"No, Hidan is here." Haku answered with a loving smile, turning his gaze to the man standing in the doorway. "Go and woe your winter cat, Gaara."  
"Alright...Okay." he nodded, moving to leave the cats alone as Hidan walked passed him. Pausing by the doorway, Gaara turned his head to find Hidan moving to lay behind Haku, the fire light whispering over their skin in a beautiful dance. He saw the love both cats had for eachother, saw it in the way they moved and touched. The way the fierce tiger gently carassed the sweet ocelot's form, the way he kissed him.

Feeling and knowing he was intruding on something that was just theirs, Gaara turned away, hoping and praying he gained the same with Neji.

-(X)-

He found the snow leopard wiping down windows in the lobby. Neji's long hair tied up in a ponytail, his eyes looking beyond his work, watching the snow fall with a sadness that broke Gaara's heart.

Pausing behind the cat, he waited for Neji to notice him. He didn't want to rush up to the cat in fear of Neji turning away from him in disgust. He didn't wish to see or hear the hate as he had done many years ago. What if Haku was wrong? What if he was seeing what wasn't there at all? What if the love he felt was what he was seeing was what he held for Hidan and not Neji for him?

"Gaara?" Neji gasped softly, jumping slightly when he turned and spotted him.

"I did not mean to frighten you." Gaara bowed his head in apology, unsure of what else to do.

"It's fine...I wasn't expecting...did you need something?" Neji asked, a tint of red gracing his face, his eyes looking toward the ground instead of him.

"Yes," Gaara nodded, reminding himself that Haku had never lied to him before. That he deserved to be happy too. But what if he killed Neji too? What if-

"What can I get for you?" Neji asked softly, putting the cleaning objects down on the table beside him. "I can call for-"

"You." Gaara said evenly, watching the confusion spread across the cat's face.

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

"I don't...oh!" Neji gasped, meeting his gaze with shocked eyes, a blush overcoming his whole body.

The reaction wasn't something Gaara was expecting. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, actually, but he knew this wasn't it. This reminded him of something someone would do for something they didn't want.

His heart couldn't take another rejection. Couldn't take anymore hate. Nodding his head, Gaara turned and walked away before Neji could say more. He did not need a mate to live. He only needed to protect Haku, his savior, their treasure. To protect Haku's cub and Hidan's growing family. His happiness would only be lived through them. Through the ones that saved him. Ignoring the snow flakes falling on his bare arms, he continued to walk, his path already set in mind. Perhaps he was too human for his own good, preferring it to his cat form. Only going cat as a reward to himself and to fight. No more then that.

"Gaara wait!" he heard someone call. Pausing he turned to find the graceful snow leopard running after him, looking as if he ran on the snow instead of within it. Maybe the leopard wished an apology for what he had assumed.

"Forgive me Neji, I did not mean to insult you." Gaara said quietly, for it could only be an insult to gain a bonding to one who killed his family.

"You didn't insult me." Neji said quickly, pausing a few steps before him. "I was shocked. I didn't think you'd..."

"I'd what?"

"You'd notice me. You haven't noticed me at all." Neji blushed. "Not since you got here."

"My apologies."

"Stop apologising." Neji growled, eyes narrowed.  
"Forgi-".

"Do you really wish me as your mate?"

"Yes." Gaara answered.

"Oh." Neji answered softly, his eyes once more looking away.

"Will you accept me?"

"Silly cat," Neji blushed deeper, a small grin on his face. "I accepted you the moment I saw you. I was waiting for you to accept on your part."

"Were you? You knew but said nothing?" Gaara frowned.

"I didn't think you wanted me." Neji answered softly meeting his gaze. "You didn't take anything I sent toward you."

"I see...I have been human too long, I no longer remember many of the cat traditions and ways. Haku is helping me, but it's slow to process." Gaara bowed his head in shame. "I am relearning but-"

"Just let your instincts run." Neji said, a hand resting over Gaara's mouth. "And the rest will come."

-(X)-

"Gaara?" Neji frowned from the covers of his bed, the sheets holding his bare form like a jealous lover, holding him as Gaara had done moments ago. "Gaara what's wrong?"

"Someone is here. Someone familiar." Gaara answered, the moonlight shining on his equally bare form through the window. He had felt it, there was no doubt about it. At first he hadn't registered it, Neji's body destracting him like crazy, but when it pushed against him a fifth time, he had jumped from the bed and moved toward the window.

"Who?"

"Her." Gaara said, pushing the window open and jumping through. Landing as a leopard and sniffing at the air.

When another body landed beside him, he turned his head and spotted Neji, his cat smaller then his own, but to Gaara, it was more beautiful then anything he had ever seen. Turning his head back toward the distance, he moved through the snow and farther into the trees, Neji matching him step for step, moving more gracefully then Gaara ever would.

When something moved toward his otherside, he didn't need to look to know it was Naruto. The jaguar blending in and out in the trees above. Below him, Sasuke stalked. He could barely see Sasuke but he could feel him. He felt Kiba in the distance. Sending his aura out, he let the other leopard know that something was here and to tell Hidan. When Kiba faded from his range, he knew his message had been recieved.

"Gaara," came the soft voice from ahead, her body wrapped in a snow jacket, her blonde hair hidden beneath her hood. "you didn't need to bring an army." Temari said. When Gaara showed no signs of shifting and the others showed no signs of leaving, he heard her sigh. He watched as her eyes moved to Naruto resting in a tree above her, his eyes narrowed and body tense. He saw her eyes flicker to Sasuke beneath him on the ground, laying down in a way that he could quickly get up from. He saw her eyes move to Neji beside him, the snow leopard sitting so close, his body rubbed against Gaara's. "Will you not shift to speak to me?"

"Why are you here?" Gaara asked her, kneeling beside Neji, his bare form no longer feeling the cold.

"I've been searching for you."

"I will not die by your claws."

"No, I didn't come to kill you." Temari said, "I came searching for my brother. I let my emotions get the best of me and I took it out on you, brother. I was lost in my head and my heart. I lost my Mother and brother. I lost my Father."

"I lost them too, but I did not call for your blood." Gaara said, wishing he could feel angry at the girl before him. Wishing he could hate her as she did him. But he had never hated her. He had loved her through it all and missed her greatly. Missed his home.

"I know. It took me years to see that. I left when I could see again. I came searching for you but I was always too late to get to you." Temari whispered. "Gaara let us speak as family, you and I. Send them away."

"You do not order a jaguar around unless you can overpower him." Hidan called out as he arrived by himself. His power hitting them all, his body moving with a promise of pain.

"Jaguar? You-"

"Him." Hidan nodded toward Naruto, the cat jumping toward the ground and landing beside Sasuke. Gaara watched the way his sister gasped at the sight of him. From a distance, or the shadows, Naruto could have been mistaken for a leopard. Up close Gaara could see the difference between their forms. Where he was slimmer and slightly taller, Naruto was stockier and heavier, his bite stronger then any Gaara had ever seen. The cat's aura doing little to change the fact as he hid it away the way he had taught himself to do, hiding behind his human shell to keep them safe. "And no one orders a tiger about." Hidan finished when Temari refused to look away from Naruto, her body tense and ready to fight, only to move a few steps back at Hidan's words.

"Will you kill me then?" Temari whispered.  
"No." Gaara answered.

"There are no others with you, female." Hidan reminded Temari. "Though Gaara won't end your life, know that I will if you bring harm to us." Without waiting for an answer, Hidan nodded his head toward Naruto, sending the cat off, most likely to guard the cabin with Kiba. Behind him Sasuke quickly followed. "Come winter cat." he finished, turning and heading after the cats.  
With a shift of his ears, Neji turned to Gaara, his eyes letting him know how much he didn't wish to go, but unable to fight Hidan's command.

"Go." Gaara smiled softly, running a hand down Neji's face and cupping his muzzle. Kissing the cat's nose, he released his mate and watched as the other relunctantly left.

"You travel with one cat that isn't supposed to be and one that the lions wish dead." Temari answered.

"The lions don't worry the tiger, we never travel near their territory." Gaara answered.

"Their head would bring you money like no other-"

"Speak of their deaths and you will speak no more." Gaara hissed, feeling his cat coming to the surface.

"Forgive me." Temari said quickly, her defense still up. "I didn't come to fight Gaara. I came to gather what little family I have left. I'm sorry for what I've done to you. For what I said. I can't say such words enough times, even for me to forgive myself. Brother, I break to pieces knowing I hurt you so badly. Knowing-"

"Your words, do you remember them?" Gaara stopped her, when he relized he cared little for an apology. That his sister had acted on instinct and emotion. That he had done the same.

"My words?"

"You called me human. Told me I was just like them." Gaara reminded her, meeting her gaze and watching her flinch.

"I'm sorry-"

"I'm not." Gaara cut her off again. "For your words gave me my path. I saw both worlds, lived both. Through them I found my family."

"I am your family-"

"I found my mate. For your words I thank you." Gaara said. "At first I didn't understand it. I made myself human as a punishment, but being human isn't such. Through another's eyes, I've come to see that. I banished myself, but by doing so I set myself a new path. I didn't see it like that before, but now I do, I am what I was meant to be. I was meant to walk both worlds, to balance between them."

"Gaara..."

"I wish you a happy life, sister, but I will not return home with you." With those words, Gaara felt the peace that settled in his heart. For the first time, there was no lingering sadness, no heartbreak, just freedom. This was what Haku had meant. This feeling, this moment. It had taken years for him to see and find them, believing he found it as he lied to himself. Years to see that every step he had taken was leading to this. He had kept the pain of his family locked away, thinking he had pushed it aside and forgotten about it, but seeing his sister, hearing her words, finding his heart's desire...this was the happiness he wanted. He would learn from his past, hold it but not live it. He would move forward. He wouldn't forget, but embrace what he had lived. He had embraced the human life and now it was time to do the same for the cat. No more would he run from it, hide from it. Like Haku, he finally understood.

-(X)-

"You are different." Neji commented as he layed beside Gaara, the morning sun rising and gracing them with light.  
"I'm free." Gaara smiled, kissing Neji's head.

"Will you miss her?"

"Yes, but not as much as I would you, should I have left." shifting them around, Gaara leaned over Neji and kissed the other gently. "She is the past I'm letting go of. I'll always remember her, will always hold her in my heart, but I am moving forward. You are my future, Neji, you are my life." with those words he kissed the snow leopard, showing him that his words rang true.

And in his heart, his list was erased as another one began to take it's place:

Peace: a way of life we all strive for. Where emotions of heartbreak fade and surrender to the newly set sense of mind. Safetly and security with the one you loved, with the family you had. Where you are no longer separated into two beings. A serenity and a sense of freedom that is our ultimate goal.


End file.
